Joe GallopGrassroots venues organisation the Music Venue Trust (MVT) said The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour will return in January with a new round of live shows, following its launch in July.
The initiative saw MVT partner with The National Lottery, which contributed £1m to underwrite the touring and production costs of over 300 live performances. The National Lottery will underwrite the costs of the shows next year.
The partnership saw 278 live shows played in front of more than 74,000 music fans and over 37,000 tickets given away to National Lottery players who were able to bring a plus one for free.
The Revive Live Tour provided employment opportunities across the sector and supported 138 grassroots music venues throughout England, Scotland and Wales, with the average capacity of each venue being 267 and 122 acts in total taking part.
One-off shows by Sir Tom Jones, Rag ‘N’ Bone Man, Mahalia, James Arthur, Frank Turner, Sam Fender and Fontaines D.C. also took place at grassroots venues to celebrate the return of live music.
MVT CEO Mark Dayvd said, “The overwhelming success of The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour in the summer meant that it wasn’t a difficult decision to push forward with another set of shows in partnership with our friends at The National Lottery. By choosing January, a traditionally quiet time of year for live music, to launch a second phase of the tour, we hope to start the new year with a bang and to create some positive momentum in 2022 for the grassroots music sector.”
MVT said full details of all artists participating, dates of individual performances and the venues hosting shows will be announced in the near future.